Christie Lawler is the Founder & Owner of CJL Consulting, The WITI Group and JAB MiXOLOGY. She is leading two conference sessions at Bar & Restaurant Expo 2022, “Retention, Rewards and the ROI” and “Social Media and Marketing 101”.
For some, it’s a passion. For others, a form of entertainment, or even a business model, side hustle or revenue generator. It can be a way to engage with worlds and experiences outside of your immediate environment. It helps people explore the world and engage their curiosity. For others, it’s just a black hole of comment threads and a downward spiral of clickbait.
For those in the middle, it’s simply social media. And it comes in many forms.
Facebook is truly for everyone, and the groups are great for event planning, community building and networking with those with similar interests. But everyone’s parents and grandparents are also using it, and messaging can easily get lost in between all the ads that have taken over the feeds.
LinkedIn is fantastic for career networking and relationship building, staying on top of industry news and trends and joining professional groups that match your field. But some people have forgotten that it isn’t Facebook and have started posting way too much personal-bias-based information. Always a no-no when in a professional environment.
Yelp is evolving daily into a much stronger resource for information for food and beverage establishments. But traffic is driven to venues typically based on proximity searches by the user. And then there’s the comments and the ratings and it could be terrifying to read some of them. Considering that people don’t have to have an actual working knowledge the service industry much less the current situation with staffing shortages and supply chain failures, every bored and entitled human out there can post something nasty about an establishment and regardless of whether or not it’s accurate – it's out there. Ugh… just… Yikes!
Instagram and TikTok is where content lives – or dies – depending on the page admin’s abilities, approach, message and how much engagement takes place. And honestly, unless the content is total clickbait or incredibly fascinating and professionally curated, Instagram is where operators are going to drive the message, and where sales are going to be made.
So, if Instagram is the place to drive interest – because that is where the guests are making decisions and choosing where to drink and eat – that channel should be the focus. So now there are all these things to consider: influencers, marketing plans, hashtags, branding, organic followers, messaging, and engagement. It’s a lot.
The most important aspect of any social media brand is the content. Does your content evoke a response? Does the audience absolutely have to come visit to try that drink or those tacos because those pics and videos that were posted were total fire?
The entire menu doesn’t have to be “Instagrammable” but there better be enough items that are so amazing in the presentation that the food and drink “porn” comes naturally. Paying attention to plating and garnishing is critical. And yes, it can be more costly to spend a little more time or money on the extra visual experience. But then guest photos tagged to the venue are invaluable and can be repurposed on Yelp pages in addition to being shared throughout other social media channels.
Team members are also an invaluable asset to helping to create content and messaging. Watch where they are going out with their friends and ask them to report back with the best they’ve seen. Then be a one-upper. Go further. And ask them to help provide content and create a following. Turn them into brand influencers for their own establishment. Then pay attention. Watch the comments. Respond to all of them, even if it is a simple “thank you” for the feedback – or most importantly – if it a service recovery opportunity.
Take that box and then get really far outside of it. Don’t be afraid to get the attention. And don’t waste it… grow further and have fun with it!
Tickets to Bar & Restaurant Expo are still available here. Find the full conference schedule here.
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